“All peoples, on any world, have faults as well as virtues. I can remember when I thought my people more honest than humans; when my Memories had shown me how they came to Evohe, some of them pretending to be our friends, and then, when we were of no use to them, attempted to destroy our world and our way of life.

The Shaping-lore tells me that our people do not cover our bodies because it is a sign of a covenant of openness between ourselves and the First Ones, and indeed, between ourselves, and ourselves. When you keep nothing between your body and that of another, the tradition holds, inner honesty will follow.

But as I have grown, both in age and in training, I have learned that one does not need veils of cloth to hide the truth. The veils of fear are much more powerful. And there is plenty of that among my people, to this day.

Honesty is important to me–it always has been. I will tell the truth, even about things of which I am not proud.

To do otherwise seems like scattering seeds on rock instead of soil, and expecting them to take root.”